Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time- The End is Coming

The late Robert Jordan's legendary series of books The Wheel of Time commences its final trilogy this November. The final three books are being completed by bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, working from material Jordan wrote before his untimely death in 2007. Originally intended to be one book, such was the scope of the story that it was decided that the final part of the iconic fantasy series would work better as a trilogy.

According to various reports, comics and a movie are also in the works (The movie will be made by Universal Studios).

The first book of these final three installments, The Gathering Storm, will be released on the 3rd of November this year. The previous eleven volumes of this truly epic work have each become mainstays of the fantasy literature pantheon, thrilling and enthralling millions of readers the world over. While each volume is a chunky beast of a book, there is so much action and plot on offer that fans have been gripped since page one.

Robert Silverberg- A grand master returns

In a message posted to his Yahoo group, science fiction legend Robert Silverberg has revealed he is to write a brand new novella. While he has been writing the occasional short story, this will be the first new book (albeit novella length) he has released in years.

The message reads:

"I've just signed on to write a new novella, tentatively called "The Last Song of Orpheus," to be published as an original book by Subterranean Press in 2010. I expect to write it this fall and it will probably run about 25,000 words, and, no, I'm not sneaking back into writing novel-length books in some gradual way by doing this one. It's a theme that appeals to me and I've been meaning to write it for the past two or three years, and finally the impulse to do it reached the surface. But it's just a novella, and I'm not quietly hatching any novels for later years."

Clerks 2: Damn you, Pillow Pants

While Zack and Miri Make a Porno saw Kevin Smith return to the gross-out humour of Jay and Silent Bob strike Back, while keeping hold of the very human comedy and drama of Chasing Amy, Clerks 2 seems to have been somewhat forgotten. While it differed in many ways from the classic original, it is still a fantastic, funny, moving and rude film that holds a special place in the hearts of many fans.

I personally love the Clerks 2 movie`, and in the characters of Dante and Randall is see big chunks of my life being played out in front of my very eyes. The situations may be ridiculous, but then, so is life.

Beck, played by the delightful Rosario Dawson (Seven Pounds, Sin City, and, erm, Josie and the Pussycats) is one of Kevin Smith's most delightful creations- a woman with her own problems, a real sense of humour and a very believable emotional connection to Dante (Brian O'Halloran). Dante and Randall are still very much the same characters they were in the original Clerks, just a little more jaded, a little more sad with their lot in life.

The dilemmas they face throughout Clerks 2 movie as they hurtle on deeper into their thirties are something that resonate deeply with Kevin Smith's last few films, which tells us something about the filmmaker himself. Yes, his earlier films were juvenile and puerile, but he's growing up at last, and wants to make something a little deeper.

Sure, I can’t really argue that a film with a Donkey Show in it is anything remotely deep, but the pop culture obsessed main characters are drawn as pretty real people. Hell, even Jay and Silent Bob seem to have matured a bit in Clerks 2. The film works as a sequel to the first Clerks very well, but it also works as a denouement of that period in Kevin Smith's career- the Jersey series, the Jay and Silent Bob stuff, and one of the most beloved pieces of Geek culture there has ever been.

It holds up very well on repeated viewings, and even though a couple of things are now rather dated (the announcement of a live action Transformers movie, for example), the story is moving and funny, which is pretty much we want from a Kevin Smith film.

Mind you... That poor Donkey...

NEW STAR TREK AND WOLVERINE TRAILERS

New trailers for JJ Abrams' Star Trek reimagining and the new Wolverone Prequel have gone live, and both look impressive. The Star Trek trailer is nothing short of brilliant, while the Wolverine trailer (which is embedded at the USA today site on their piece about the movie here) looks, erm, like it is going to screw up continuity even more than the Star Trek film!

Check out the new Star Trek movie trailer below:

ALIEN VS PREDATOR: SCOOP ON THE NEXT TWO FILMS?

According to undisclosed sources, the next two films in the Alien Vs Predator franchise are set to go into production back to back later this year.

The two films are allegedly to be called ALIEN VS PREDATOR: SURVIVAL and ALIEN VS PREDATOR: INSTINCT and take a much more hard sci-fi approach to the series, taking it back to the roots of the creatures themselves.

AVP3 is said to be set on a derelict space freighter, which is being used as a hunting ground for a band of Predators who have discovered and Alien nest on the vessel.

A group of human survivors from a skirmish on a remote outpost have landed their escape pod on the derelict station, and with failing air and supplies, they must survive the combined threats of the Predators and Aliens as the two races of alien creatures battle it out.

This is said to lead into the fourth film, INSTINCT, which sees the remaining survivors of AVP3 bringing the freighter down for a crash landing on the Alien homeworld, right into the middle of an all-out war between Aliens and Predators that is to feature the most epic battle scenes ever attempted for the franchise.

This is intended as an ending for the VS series in order for new films in the individual Alien and Predator franchises to be made in years to come.

None of the characters from previous films are to return for these two films, although various nods to the earlier films, and the original Alien and Predator films, will feature throughout. The rumour mentions a number of Colonial Marine Dropships arriving at the climax of AVP4 in order to rescue the last survivors before the planet is purged of all life.

As yet there is no confirmation as to whether these rumours are true, buit we thought we would put them out there for you as they sound awesome, and hell, they can't be any worse than Requiem...

Where next for fantastic fiction?

With Star Wars complete, the Watchmen film on the big screen, all the superhero movies we have always dreamed of and countless other much-dreamed of pieces of entertainment at our disposal, where will science fiction, fantasy and other genres go for its next fix? We have had the previously 'unfilmable' stories such as The Lord of The Rings, and now Watchmen, made into huge blockbuster movies. We have had Anakin's fall to the Dark Side.

We have had a trilogy of X-Men movies, Spider-Man films, Batman, Iron Man, Hulk, a reimagining of the Star Trek universe, video game films and TVs alight with Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and many other huge genre franchises.

All of which means the studios and networks will have to look a little further afield for the next big thing. The big names have been taken care of- now its time to move onto other classics of each genre and make something spectacular for audiences.

Long-mooted projects are moving forward that may provide some cause for celebration, with science fiction classics such as Asimov's Foundation books and Orson Scott Card's Ender's game heading to the screen at varying speeds being two good examples.

The possibilities are endless, but what we must also take into consideration is the possibility that new ideas will go ahead. New ones! Could you imagine that? New films and TV series based on original ideas instead of rehashed versions of the same old song and dance. That would really be something else, and while there are numerous things I would love to see adapted into movies, I would also love to see some new and vibrant original ideas go forward.

I think that the current trend for adapting everything in sight does have it's strengths, though. It is keeping the genres of the fantastic alive in the cinema and the general public consciousness with properties that are at least familiar to the masses if not well known. This keeps an interest in science fiction, superheroes and whatnot alive and helps smaller, more daring projects go ahead.

So I guess my point is that to move forward, there are areas of the entertainment industry that need to remain the same. Carry on adapting the classics, but now that the various Holy Grails have been found and made into movies, maintaining a sizable interest in the general public is going to be kind of hard. Thankfully, with two Hobbit movies, more Transformers, superheroes and epics to come, we will be enjoying this current age of wonder for some time to come.

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN- FALLEN AND DEVASTATOR!

Here are two awesome pictures from the new TRANSFORMERS movie- REVENGE OF THE FALLEN! These are fantastic character shots of THE FALLEN and DEVASTATOR! Of course, Devastator is made up of the CONSTRUCTICONS, hence the multicoloured look. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is going to be EPIC. These pictures have been floated on a number of movie sites, and originate from a Japanese toy company's site. Check out these monstrosities: